Why Use Years?

[dfisher9]

I understand how use years work, but one thing that I was wondering about is why there are different use years? It seems to be needlessly confusing, especially for use years at the end of the calendar year. Is it simply to spread out when people will be trying to bank points? Other than the first and last years of the resort, there really is no difference in the points based on your use year, as you can book whenever you want. Is this a timeshare standard?

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

I understand how use years work, but one thing that I was wondering about is why there are different use years? It seems to be needlessly confusing, especially for use years at the end of the calendar year. Is it simply to spread out when people will be trying to bank points? Other than the first and last years of the resort, there really is no difference in the points based on your use year, as you can book whenever you want. Is this a timeshare standard?

I think they want to avoid having everybody in the system trying to use up their points all at the same time.

 

[Jason@dvcstore]

I understand how use years work, but one thing that I was wondering about is why there are different use years? It seems to be needlessly confusing, especially for use years at the end of the calendar year. Is it simply to spread out when people will be trying to bank points? Other than the first and last years of the resort, there really is no difference in the points based on your use year, as you can book whenever you want. Is this a timeshare standard?

I am sure my guess is totally wrong but I think there are 8 different use years because when this started in the 90's computers weren't used as they are in 2018. In my opinion they wanted to spread out the phone calls on when people would be banking their points. Of course, in 2018 I am guessing majority of members simply bank their points online.

I am sure better answers will be coming though.

 

[drusba]

The above are logical answers and possibly the correct ones, but Disney itself has never explained why there are use years or why four months (Jan, May, July and Nov) are not used to start use years.

 

[BillPA]

The negative with UYs come Jan 2042, or when ever you're resort ends, there will be a ad rush to use points as all we expire at the same time. I think they had not thought about things at that end. I kind of hope they will let everyone 'expire' on their UY, not everyone in Jan.

 

[DSLRuser]

Is it simply to spread out when people will be trying to bank points?

BINGO! you answered your own question.

 

[disneynutz]

I don't understand how DVD decides on how long to sell a certain UY. Looking at sales by UY, some months have more than others. At BLT they offered February for the longest time.

Bill

 

[drusba]

I don't understand how DVD decides on how long to sell a certain UY. Looking at sales by UY, some months have more than others. At BLT they offered February for the longest time.

Bill

That one actually has an explanation. Over the years, Disney has often been selling new use years that begin 3 to 5 months before the month of sale -- its a marketing ploy; you get points right away and then a new set in only 7 to 9 months. That practice has resulted in some use years, such as December, having more points than others because December often got used for three straight months for sales in March, April, and May each year because there is no Nov or Jan use year. Then you also have situations as happened at BLT. BLT went on sale starting in Sep 2008 but it did not open until Aug 2009. Disney could not really sell use years for it that began in 2008 without facing some risk -- the Aug 2009 opening date was not a certainty; in fact, when originally announced the estimated opening date was Sep 2009, and even that was not a certainty. It cannot sell interests that cannot be used, i.e., if it sold an Oct 2008 beginning use year and then there were delays that prevented the resort from being opened before Oct 2009, any such purchasers would have a right to rescind their agreements and get their money back. So it chose to start sales with a Feb 2009 use year and actualy sold that Feb use year to new purchasers for almost seven months before using a March 2009 use year as the start month.

 

[msjprincess]

I wish I realized that some UYs have less points than others before I bought DVC. We bought September because our favorite time to visit is Fall. Now that I'm looking to add on another small resale I realize that September isn't very common. I wish we had bought August instead. I know I'll find something eventually it just takes longer.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

That one actually has an explanation. Over the years, Disney has often been selling new use years that begin 3 to 5 months before the month of sale -- its a marketing ploy; you get points right away and then a new set in only 7 to 9 months. That practice has resulted in some use years, such as December, having more points than others because December often got used for three straight months for sales in March, April, and May each year because there is no Nov or Jan use year. Then you also have situations as happened at BLT. BLT went on sale starting in Sep 2008 but it did not open until Aug 2009. Disney could not really sell use years for it that began in 2008 without facing some risk -- the Aug 2009 opening date was not a certainty; in fact, when originally announced the estimated opening date was Sep 2009, and even that was not a certainty. It cannot sell interests that cannot be used, i.e., if it sold an Oct 2008 beginning use year and then there were delays that prevented the resort from being opened before Oct 2009, any such purchasers would have a right to rescind their agreements and get their money back. So it chose to start sales with a Feb 2009 use year and actualy sold that Feb use year to new purchasers for almost seven months before using a March 2009 use year as the start month.

Interesting. When I bought my VGF in April 2015, they offered a June Use year. I would get points right away and get points again 3 months later. After reading up on Use Year, I called them back and requested a December Use Year, because we tend to travel in December and springtime. I think they were surprised, because I was giving up points coming in just three months. But it worked out fine, because our first trip was in December and by that time, I had 2 years of points to use.

 

[drusba]

Interesting. When I bought my VGF in April 2015, they offered a June Use year. I would get points right away and get points again 3 months later. After reading up on Use Year, I called them back and requested a December Use Year, because we tend to travel in December and springtime. I think they were surprised, because I was giving up points coming in just three months. But it worked out fine, because our first trip was in December and by that time, I had 2 years of points to use.

During the years before the Great Recession, the promo period was almost always three to five months. Following the Great Recession the promo period for new sales was extended at times like in your situation in 2015 when DVD was sellig new use years that began 8 to 10 months before the month of sale. It was just one of the "new" sales methods used by Disney after the Great Recession to make sales while continuously raising and never lowering prices. Another thing that changed as a result of the Great Recession was the minimum point sale to new purchasers, with the old 160 point minimum being abandoned for a 100 point minimum, which at times has been only 50. That new minimum was necessary from Disney's viewpoint because it had raised prices so much that keeping the 160 point minimum would have significantly reduced sales to new purchasers. From the members' viewpoint, it has had a major, negative impact on reservation demand, significantly increasing the demand for studios and leading to shortages for studios at the 7 month window, and for some even at the 11 month window, that never existed before the Great Recession. As far as the promo period of selling a use year that is 3 to 5 months before the sale month, DVD has more recently been returning to it.

 

[CarolMN]

........(snip).........Another thing that changed as a result of the Great Recession was the minimum point sale to new purchasers, with the old 160 point minimum being abandoned for a 100 point minimum, which at times has been only 50. That new minimum was necessary from Disney's viewpoint because it had raised prices so much that keeping the 160 point minimum would have significantly reduced sales to new purchasers. From the members' viewpoint, it has had a major, negative impact on reservation demand, significantly increasing the demand for studios and leading to shortages for studios at the 7 month window, and for some even at the 11 month window, that never existed before the Great Recession. ........

Agree. Makes me sad that they sold so many small contracts (and continue to allow the resale of small contracts to new members). IMO, this is more of a factor than the increased demand for fall vacations. YMMV.

In addition to changing the studio availability at 7 months, it costs more to administer the small contracts.

 

[Dean]

I tend to think it's related to sales. They phased in OKW and most of the resorts declaring, then selling blocks at at time. They would have lost months of sales they could never recover if they all were the same UY. DVC is not the only points based timeshare that has UY.